This book offers a comprehensive, yet condensed, overview of this enormous field of study in an attempt to help readers in the field of human health understand the different facets of this ever-growing problem. It provides detailed discussions that include the history,chemistry, biology, epidemiology, and salient characteristics of the most important substances of abuse. The authors provide clear and comprehensive explanations of available treatment options and address important social issues connected to substance abuse. The book is an important source of practical, up-to-the minute information, making it a necessity for anyone who must have ready access to accurate, concise information regarding substance abuse.

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The nightly news and other media provide a constant reminder of illegal drug transport over American borders and along routes between various U.S. cities. The general public is well aware that law enforcement efforts to address the foreign supply and trafficking of illegal drugs into the United States is an ongoing battle.This useful and readable compendium gives a fascinating account of how illegal drugs are transported into and around the United States and throughout its neighborhoods. Criminologist and geographer George F. Rengert takes a unique approach to the problem of illegal drug distribution and U.S. drug markets. Using maps and charts to illustrate his findings, Rengert applies spacial diffusion models to the illegal drug trade and explains why certain drugs are transported and found in different parts of the country. For example, the highest concentration of marijuana plants is not on either coast, but rather across the middle of the United States--throughout what is known as the corn belt. At the local level Rengert assesses the patterns and processes that interconnect drug sales and neighborhood deterioration and change.The book also addresses the important issues of how illegal drugs in this country operate on wholesale and retail levels and ways in which law enforcement at the federal, state, and local levels contend with this widespread problem. Using ethnographic material to provide real-life examples, Rengert explores how drug dealers on the street expand spatially and predictably in their neighborhoods. He illustrates how this knowledge helps law enforcement in efforts to get these drugs off the streets.

This is both a fascinating history of the formative years of Alcoholics Anonymous, as well as the bitter-sweet tale of the troubled man Bill W. always referred to as "my sponsor." In 1934, Ebby Thatcher called an old drinking buddy to tell him about the happiness he was finding in sobriety. His friend's name was Bill Wilson, and this book is the story of their life-long friendship. It is both a fascinating history of the formative years of Alcoholics Anonymous, as well as the bitter-sweet tale of the troubled man Bill W. always referred to as "my sponsor." "Deeply informative and moving, a valuable contribution to the history of A.A. A 'must' reading for anyone interested in one of the more fascinating chapters in A.A.'s history."--Nell Wing, Retired A.A. Archivist and Bill Wilson's Secretary

Preventing Substance Abuse is an informal guide to successful programs for treating specific substance abuse problems, identifying their origins, implementation, outcomes, and, where possible, contacts for obtaining additional information. The emphasis is on information documented from outcomes of successful interventions rather than on theories of what should work or what works under experimental conditions. Key features include easy-to-follow charts and graphs and an appendix summarizing the National Structured Evaluation (mandated by Congress) of substance abuse prevention.

In this health-conscious age there is increasing concern about tobacco smoking and inappropriate consumption levels of alcohol. Alcoholism poses an important occupational health problem which can affect an individual's personal welfare and limit his or her efficiency at work. There is concern about the increasing availability of drugs in society, the link between drug-taking and the spread of HIV in society, and the ways in which substance misuse generates more violence within society. Both excessive alcohol consumption and drug-taking may dispose an individual to antisocial actions and lead to criminal activities. By examining the underlying biological and psychological nature of these behaviours the book is intended to inform its readers of current advances in a number of relevant disciplines and to demonstrate some of the problems in collecting and interpreting information from particular groups. 2

Drug trafficking breeds massive crime, which does more damage than addiction itself. The cure lies not where the drugs are produced but in consumer countries, mainly in the West. We are losing this war, and Richard Clutterbuck examines four radical alternatives: suppression, severe enough to work without infringing civil liberties; decriminalization, Dutch style; wider licensing of drugs under government control; and licensed legalization, controlling drugs as we control alcohol. He urges debate, research and experiment to decide the best way.

Many of the questions related to the treatment of drug addiction originate from the confusion that still characterizes this issue, even though biology is irreversibly changing our outlook on the physiology and psychopathology of the mind. In fact, prejudices stemming from the archaic concept of mind-body dualism are so difficult to eradicate that even a skilled psychiatrist may find it hard to distinguish a psychiatric symptom from a socially transgressive behavior. The dilemma becomes even more salient for drug addiction, since many of the substances which induce abuse and dependence are illegal, and their production, trade and use are forbidden by law. If the use of heroin is connoted as a crime, it may become controversial to recognize its chronic sequelae as a disease. Hence, withdrawal symptoms may alternatively be attributed to drug effects, or labelled as immoral attitudes arising from a vicious personality. However, the physician's judgement, which has to be merely instrumental at improving the patient's quality of life, should never be influenced by such complex setting. In fact, the only concern of the physician must be that of ascertaining the causes of symptoms and of removing them: if symptoms are induced by the toxic effect of a drug, he has to use the most effective antidote, and then proceed towards a detoxification; if they are due to withdrawal, a substitutive substance should be given initially. In the case of narcotics, substitutive therapy on a maintenance basis may become mandatory.

The lure of drugs and alcohol is capturing today's youth in its fatal grip and may ultimately destroy our nation's future generations. The vicious cycle of abuse is one that parents, teachers, counselors, and other citizens decry on a daily basis. Dr. Thomas Milhorn, an expert on adolescent drug abuse, provides crucial information on all the major drugs of abuse - including depressants, narcotics, stimulants, cannabinoids, inhalants, steroids, and hallucinogens - and their lethal consequences. Dr. Milhorn contends that in order to confront the monster that is destroying our children's health and quality of life, we must first understand the psyche of drug and alcohol abusers and the natural progression of the disease of addiction. This respected physician and physiologist reveals the harmful combinations currently in vogue in the drug world and the shortand long-term effects they have on the body, and discusses ways to recognize and pinpoint the telltale signs of a user. He explores the question of why adolescents abuse drugs, as well as special issues affecting young female addicts. This powerful book also examines the fatal relationship between drugs and AIDS, and includes a brief history of AIDS, and lifesaving advice on AIDS prevention. Dr. Milhorn skillfully assesses the various inpatient and outpatient treatment choices. He realistically portrays the intense physical and emotional stages the user will pass through before becoming drug free, as well as the stresses placed upon families during the recovery process. As this valuable book relates, both parents and teachers have clearly defined roles, and each can use his or her own brand of influence to aid the adolescent on the journey back to a healthy mind and body. Finally, Dr. Milhorn presents a list of successful options available if a first treatment attempt should fail. We live in a society wh ere 12-year-olds are budding alcoholics and children are bombarded in school hallways with solicitations to ex

The recent surge in the use of crack/cocaine in Britain has rightly been a cause for concern. In this book Philip Bean has brought together some of the most respected authorities on the subject to report on their recent research. Chapters include studies on the supply and use of crack/cocaine in London and Glasgow, on the projected epidemic in use, on treatment on the rights of users as well as placing the subject in its historical perspective.

From the 1950s 'girl junkie' to the 1990s 'crack mom', Using Women investigates how the cultural representations of women drug users have defined America's drug policies in this century. In analyzing the public's continued fear, horror and outrage wrought by the specter of women using drugs, Nancy Campbell demonstrates the importance that public opinion and popular culture have played in regulating women's lives. The book will chronicle the history of women and drug use, provide a critical policy analysis of the government's drug policies and offer recommendations for the direction our current drug policies should take. Using Women includes such chapters as 'Sex, Drugs and Race in the Age of Dope'; 'Regulating Adolescents in the Postwar US'; 'Fifties Femininity'; and 'Regulating Maternal Instinct'.

The most complete history of A.A. ever written. "Not-God" contains anecdotes and excerpts from the diaries, correspondence, and occasional memoirs of A.A.'s early figures. A fascinating, fast-moving, and authoritative account of the discovery and development of the program and fellowship that we know today as Alcoholics Anonymous.

Why do so many people feel compelled to drink alcohol or take drugs? And why do so many men drink and so many women refrain? Using ideas from social anthropology, this book attempts to provide a novel answer to these questions. The introduction surveys both gender and addiction. It points out that we cannot say what men or women are really like, in any culturally innocent sense, for gender is always, even in the realm of biology, a cultural matter. The ethnographic chapters, ranging from Ancient Rome to modern Japan, similarly suggest how any substance - from alcohol to tea to heroin - inevitably takes its meaning or reality in the cultural system in which it exists.
This book will be of interest to medical anthropologists, medical sociologists, anyone with an interest in the contemporary direction of anthropology as well as those working in the fields of alcohol and addiction.

Why do so many people feel compelled to drink alcohol or take drugs? And why do so many men drink and so many women refrain? Using ideas from social anthropology, this book attempts to provide a novel answer to these questions. The introduction surveys both gender and addiction. It points out that we cannot say what men or women are really like, in any culturally innocent sense, for gender is always, even in the realm of biology, a cultural matter. The ethnographic chapters, ranging from Ancient Rome to modern Japan, similarly suggest how any substance - from alcohol to tea to heroin - inevitably takes its meaning or reality in the cultural system in which it exists.
This book will be of interest to medical anthropologists, medical sociologists, anyone with an interest in the contemporary direction of anthropology as well as those working in the fields of alcohol and addiction.

AIDS and drug addiction is a topic of great and growing concern. AIDS first appeared among intravenous drug users in Europe in 1984, three years after the first cases were seen among homosexuals. This epidemic has spread more rapidly among intravenous drug users than in any other risk group. The high rates of HIV-1 seroprevalence among drug users in France, Italy, and Spain account for 85% of the total number of AIDS in intravenous drug users in Europe. It is anticipated that HIV-infected drug users will soon place a heavy burden on both drug treatment facilities and specialized health care units. The HIV-1 epidemic will also cross the former iron curtain. This contribution covers the wide and complex scene of drug problems and addiction as a whole. It gives researchers an opportunity to obtain background information on the spread of HIV and AIDS among intravenous drug users as well as on the clinical and psychological effects of HIV-1 infection and AIDS in Europe. The topics reviewed include surveys of intravenous drug use, HIV prevalence, detoxification, risk reduction, changing health behaviors, evaluating AIDS interventions and the impact of methadone maintenance treatment. This monograph will be of value to all clinicians, researchers, and policy makers who are concerned with the connection between intravenous drug use and AIDS.

This work examines the social, political and health policy contexts within which alcohol treatment policy has emerged and changed since 1950. Three themes are highlighted as particularly relevant to an examination of policy trends:;The emergence and evolution of a 'policy community' spear-headed by psychiatrists in the 1960s but broadening to include other profession and the voluntary sector by the 1980s. This text traces professional changes and tensions and their effects on the formation and implementation of policy into the '90s.;The role of research which influenced the nature and direction of policy. Changing approaches to alcohol treatment reveal the increasing uses of research as the rationale for social and health policy decisions and illustrate the move towards a contractor relationship between research workers and policy makers.;The changing conceptions and competing paradigms of the problem tracing the effect of ideological shifts on the balance between treatment responses and prevention and public health approaches to complex social medical problems such as alcoholism.;Within these broad themes, the text portrays the pressures and tensions on government departments, the

Contents:
Acknowledgments. Introduction. PART 1: DRUG TRAFFICKERS. 1: The Good Old Days: reciprocity and public service. 2: Going for Cover: trafficking as a sideline. 3: Things Get Nasty: enter the criminal diversifier. 4: Contested Streets: retailing into the 1990s. PART 2: ENFORCEMENT STRATEGIES 5: Policing Localities: street operations. 6: Inner City Drug Squads: surveillance and but operations. 7: Policing Localities: street operations. PART 3: KEY ISSUES IN DRUG ENFORCEMENT. 8: Informants and Stings: tradition and innovation in plainclothes work. 9: Intelligence Rules: the centralisation of British policing. 10: The Punishment Illusion: your money and your life?. Conclusion: A Little Knowledge. Appendix: Extracts form ACPO's `Broome Report'. Bibliography. Subject Index. Author Index.

The accompanying Participant's Workbook to the SSC is written to engage clients and encourage active participation in treatment and responsible living. Phase I: Challenge to Change: Building Knowledge and Skills for Responsible Living Phase II: Commitment to Change: Strengthening Skills for Self-Improvement, Change, and Responsible Living Phase III: Taking Ownership of Change: Lifestyle Balance and Healthy Living SAGE offers treatment and training programs for mental health providers that you can easily incorporate into your existing programs.

Addiction to illicit drugs is a pressing social concern across greater China, where there are likely several million drug addicts at present. This research breaks new ground by examining Chinese people's stories of drug addiction. Chinese Stories of Drug Addiction systematically evaluates how drug addiction is represented and constructed in a series of contemporary life stories and filmic stories from mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. These stories recount experiences leading up to and during drug addiction, as well as experiences during drug rehabilitation and recovery. Through analysis of these contemporary life stories and filmic stories, the book presents a comprehensive picture of how Chinese people from both inside the experience of drug addiction and outside of it make sense of a social practice that is deemed to be highly transgressive in Chinese culture. It employs a blended discourse analytic and narrative analytic approach to show how salient cultural, political and institutional discourses shape these Chinese stories and experiences. Complementing existing humanities research which documents the historical narrative of drug addiction in China at the expense of the contemporary narrative, the book also provides health and allied professionals with a rich insight into how Chinese people from different geographical locations and walks of life make sense of the experience of drug addiction. Moving beyond historical narrative to examine contemporary stories, Chinese Stories of Drug Addiction offers a valuable contribution to the fields of Chinese studies and personal health and wellbeing, as well as being of practical use to health professionals.

To date, professionals who work with drug users have given greatest emphasis to counselling the users themselves, to the exclusion of others with whom they may be involved, in particular their families who themselves may be experiencing great amounts of distress. This book introduces the reader to the setting up and running of a drug support group and illustrates the underlying approach of providing mutual support for everyone involved. Using many practical examples, Paul Lockley takes the reader, step by step, through the establishment and life of a support group, and the work it entails. In the process of examining the life and work of the group, attention is given to aspects such as group attendance, development, difficulties and assessment.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of mental health in rural America, with the goal of fostering urgently needed research and honest conversations about providing accessible, culturally competent mental health care to rural populations. Grounding the work is an explanation of the history and structure of rural mental health care, the culture of rural living among diverse groups, and the crucial "A's" and "S": accountability, accessibility, acceptability, affordability, and stigma. The book then examines poverty, disaster mental health, ethics in rural mental health, and school counseling. It ends with practical information and treatments for two of the most common problems, suicide and substance abuse, and a brief exploration of collaborative possibilities in rural mental health care.

Drinking and drunkenness have become a focal point for political and media debates to contest notions of responsibility, discipline and risk; yet, at the same time, academic studies have highlighted the positive aspects of drinking in relation to sociability, belonging and identity. These issues are at the heart of this volume, which brings together the work of academics and researchers exploring social and cultural aspects of contemporary drinking practices. These drinking practices are enormously varied and are spatially and culturally defined. The contributions to the volume draw on research settings from across the UK and beyond to demonstrate both the complexity and diversity of drinking subjectivities and practices. Across these examples tensions relating to gender, social class, age and the life course are particularly prominent. Rather than align to now long-established moral discourses about what constitutes 'good' and 'bad' drinking, sociological approaches to alcohol foreground the vivid, lived, nature of alcohol consumption and the associated experiences of drunkenness and intoxication. In doing so, the volume illuminates the controversial yet important social and cultural roles played by drink for individuals and groups across a range of social contexts.

This powerful study immerses the reader in the world of homelessness and drug addiction in the contemporary United States. For over a decade Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg followed a social network of two dozen heroin injectors and crack smokers on the streets of San Francisco, accompanying them as they scrambled to generate income through burglary, panhandling, recycling, and day labor. "Righteous Dopefiend" interweaves stunning black-and-white photographs with vivid dialogue, detailed field notes, and critical theoretical analysis. Its gripping narrative develops a cast of characters around the themes of violence, race relations, sexuality, family trauma, embodied suffering, social inequality, and power relations.The result is a dispassionate chronicle of survival, loss, caring, and hope rooted in the addicts' determination to hang on for one more day and one more 'fix' through a 'moral economy of sharing' that precariously balances mutual solidarity and interpersonal betrayal.

Substance use has become an increasingly common concern for all aspects of social work practice, and especially when working with mental health and vulnerable families. This requires all social workers to have sufficient education and training in alcohol and other drugs across a range of settings. This volume presents evidence from a number of major studies which examine the current state of social work education in relation to substance use. These contextual considerations are complemented by specific applied analyses which explore classroom, methodological, practice and theoretical considerations within both the UK and America. Substance Use in Social Work Education and Training provides a strong evidence base for the effectiveness of appropriately-targeted education and support given to social workers. It further substantiates calls for a greater inclusion of more on substance use in social work education and curricula. This book is based on a special issue of the journal Social Work Education.